Toto's XIV (including contributions from Billy Sherwood's big brother) is a great album. Possibly my favourite Toto album.
I don't find TQ to be "new age/twee/lullabyish". All those terms are somewhat subjective, obviously, but there's nothing on TQ that I'd describe as New Age ambient music, of the sort Anderson has sometimes done. "Twee" is a very subjective term, so I won't touch that one! "Lullabyish"...? I'm a big fan of Lily Allen's first album, but I remember my ex complaining that all her melodies sound like nursery rhymes, so maybe I'm not the best person to comment here! OK, so how do we define "lullabyish"? I looked at Wikipedia, which offered...
I don't think that characterises most of TQ. It doesn't tend to use triple meter or 6/8. It's an album full of instrumental accompaniments, with long sections without vocals. I wouldn't say it has particularly simple pitch contours or melodies. Davison's vocal melodies on "The Ice Bridge" are really quite strange. On the other hand, it does have some slower tempos, it does have some songs about love and affection (from Davison). At times, I think Howe does offer up overly simple melodies -- that would be part of my criticism of "Music to My Ears" or "Mystery Tour" -- while I think he's more interesting with, say, "Leave Well Alone".Lullabies tend to share exaggerated melodic tendencies, including simple pitch contours, large pitch ranges, and generally higher pitch. These clarify and convey heightened emotions, usually of love or affection. When there is harmony, infants almost always prefer consonant intervals over dissonant intervals. [...] Tonally, most lullabies are simple, often merely alternating tonic and dominant harmonies.
In addition to pitch tendencies, lullabies share several structural similarities. The most frequent tendencies are intermittent repetitions and long pauses between sections. [...]
Rhythmically, there are shared patterns. Lullabies are usually in triple meter or 6/8 time, giving them a "characteristic swinging or rocking motion." [...] The tempos of lullabies tend to be generally slow, and the utterances are short. [...]
Lullabies almost never have instrumental accompaniments.
Henry
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